Shop cabinets

[Bob Huddleston]

Hi all. I am in the beginning stages of wanting to build some sturdy upper and lower cabinets in my shop. Here are pictures of it:

http://www.woodcentral.com/shots/shot629.shtml (beginning) :p

http://www.woodcentral.com/shots/shot766.shtml (now) :eek:

Here is my dilemma: What do I use for the carcasses? I do not want to spend oodles and oodles of cash, but want them sturdy. Currently am thinking 3/4" MDF for the bases and 1/2" for the uppers. I tend to like using my pocket screws for this.

Any suggestions, past experiences, good and bad, welcomed!

[frank shic]

one vote for 5/8" melamine

[Ken Garlock]

Bob, the cabinets I built for the shop and the garage use shop grade 3/4" plywood. The base cabinets are modeled after a 'Norm' design "Workshop Hutch (http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct3.cgi?0106)".

Personally, I would not use MDF for a hard-use project and where there may be a potential for moisture absorption. In addition, plywood will absorb glue into its fibers whereas MDF is only a surface penetration. Try gluing strips of plywood together in an X, also glue strips of MDF together in an X. After a day of drying, try to shear-fail the two examples by pushing the ends of the Xs toward each other. My experience shows that the plywood will break before the glue joint fails. The MDF will tear apart at the joint.

[Byron Trantham]

Bob, I made my shop cabinets years ago out of 3/4" MDF. I screwed and glued them and then painted them (white). Not a single joint failure. If I were to do it again, I would use melamine. The primary reason is the finish - you don't have to!:D I discovered a fastening system using conformat screws. The hole is drilled using a step bit. The joint is strong! You can buy plastic caps for the screw heads that finish them off nicely and I used heat activated melamine edge banding for exposed edges. The doors are attached with euro hinges.